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Texas Tech basketball: What we learned about the Red Raiders in the Bahamas

By Matthew Conner

MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA - APRIL 08: Texas Tech Red Raiders fans cheer prior to the 2019 NCAA men's Final Four National Championship game against the Virginia Cavaliers at U.S. Bank Stadium on April 08, 2019 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images)
MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA - APRIL 08: Texas Tech Red Raiders fans cheer prior to the 2019 NCAA men's Final Four National Championship game against the Virginia Cavaliers at U.S. Bank Stadium on April 08, 2019 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images) /
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(Photo by John Weast/Getty Images)
(Photo by John Weast/Getty Images) /

The Texas Tech basketball team has completed its three-game exhibition tour of the Bahamas and here is what we learned about the Red Raiders in our first look at this year’s squad.

This week, Texas Tech basketball fans left starving for more Red Raider hoops after this spring’s magical run to the National Title game got an appetizer as Chris Beard’s team played three exhibition games in the Bahamas.  Overall, Tech went just 1-2 dropping the opener against the Bahamas National Team and splitting a pair with Serbian professional team Mega Bemax.

That included Sunday’s 76-73 loss in which Kyler Edwards was unable to tie the game with a 3-pointer at the buzzer.  Still, it was a nice outing for the sophomore who was second on the team with 16 points, one fewer than he scored in Thursday’s 94-92 win over Bemax.

The star on Sunday was Terrence Shannon, who led his team with 20 points to go along with 3 rebounds.  One of the biggest revelations from this week, the true freshman from Chicago also came up with three steals, handed out two assists, and drew seven fouls.

Another standout on Sunday was grad transfer forward T.J. Holyfield.  In his best game of the week, the 6-foot-8 native of Albuquerque had eight points and a team-high eleven points.

After missing all of last season with a right shoulder injury, the two-time first-team All-Southland Conference selection looked rusty at times this week but Sunday he showed signs of regaining the type of game that made him one of the most coveted grad transfers available this offseason.

Maybe the biggest takeaway from Sunday’s loss was that the Red Raiders took the game to its final possession despite not playing Davide Moretti, Chris Clarke, or Jahmi’us Ramsey.

Moretti did not play after gingerly walking off the court early in Thursday’s game.  Meanwhile, Clarke sat out the final two games of the tour as a precaution.  Though he has no injury that we are aware of, we must keep in mind that he has not played since March of 2018 after neomg suspended for the entire season last year at Virginia Tech.  And don’t forget that in 2017, he suffered a torn ACL that cut short his best statistical season to date making it logical to limit his minutes this week.

Meanwhile, Beard apparently saw everything he needed to see from Ramsey three days ago.  The 5-star 2019 signee put up a huge 44-point, 12-rebound performance in Thursday’s win showing the type of explosiveness and talent that made him the highest-rated player to ever sign with the Red Raiders.

Now we must wait 78 days until we get another look at the latest and most-anticipated edition of Red Raider hoops.  There’s never been more excitement around the program and given what we saw this week in the Bahamas, the fervor over Chris Beard’s latest team may be justified.  Here’s what we learned from the Red Raiders tour of the Bahamas.

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